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The IL&FS fiasco represents India's domestic belt and road quicksand

IL&FS has extracted a heavy toll by playing on the nation's desperation for infrastructure

IL&FS, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services, Mumbai
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A logo of IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services) is seen on a building at its headquarters in Mumbai. Photo: Reuters

Andy Mukherjee | Bloomberg
It was as a newspaper-office intern in New Delhi in 1992 that I witnessed the birth of India’s homegrown belt-and-road initiative. The program was midwifed by an up-and-coming lender that few had then heard of: Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd.

It wasn’t called belt-and-road, a term that would gain currency much later as a catchphrase for China’s opaquely financed global infrastructure ambitions. There’s a lot of scrutiny now of those energy and transportation projects, and a growing discomfort that Beijing may be ensnaring developing countries in a debt trap. So it’s remarkable that India – itself a vocal critic